Control instrument



Dec. 31, 1946. F. w. SIDE 2,413,584

CONTROL INSTRUMENT Filed Nov.. 8, 1940 Wl IIIA IIIIIII INVENTOR.

' FRE EmcK w. sans Arriv Patented Dee. 31, 1946 CONTROL INSTRUMENT Frederick W. Side, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to The Brown Instrument Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November s, 1940, seriamo. 364,881

(C1. iss- 94) 2 Claims, 1

My present invention comprises improvements in fluid pressure control apparatus operating to create a control fluid pressure force which is impressed on a'fluid pressure control motor or analogous control actuating element and which varies in accordance with changes in a control specic improvements in that portion of an air. control apparatus which serves to vary the rate.

at which the reset. or compensating action of such an apparatus may take place. This is accomplished by providing the apparatus with a series of lengths of'small-bore tubing through which the air that controls the speed of reset must Dass. Each of the pieces of tubing is of a different length so that by connecting one or the otherof the tubes with the air control apparatus the speed with which air bleeds through the tubing will be changed.

It is' a further object of the invention to control the speed of reset of an air control instrument by providing a plurality of small-bore tubes of different lengths, each of which may readily be connected with the instrument.

The various features of novelty which characterize my invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specication. For aA better understandingof the invention, however, its advantages and specic objects obtained with its use, reference -should be had to the accompanying drawing, and descriptive matter in which I have il lustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.

' In the drawing:

Fig. l is a view, partly-,in section, of an air fluid is adjusted by means of a valve 3V of the diaphragm type in which air under varying pressures is supplied to the diaphragm of the valveV to proportionally control its opening. 1A bulb 4 that contains some temperature` sensitive liquid that will expand upon heating thereof is inserted in vFig. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3,

supplied through a pipe 2. The supply ofthe the furnace and connected by capillary 5 to the stationary yenel of a Bourdon tube 6 which is in the form of a helix. As the temperature of the heater increases the tube will unwind and move.

a lever 1 fastened to its free end and pivoted around the shaft 8. Movement bf this lever is used to control the pressure applied to the diaphragm of valve 3 in thel following manner. The free end of lever 1 is connected by a link 9 to one arm of a bell-crank lever I0 pivoted at II the other arm of which is connected to a link I2 that supports one end of the lever i3 Whichis pivoted around a normally stationary support IG. Movement of the lever I3 pivots a iiapper valve I5 relative to a -bleed nozzle I6 to throttle the escape of air therethrough. 'I'he flapper I5 is pivoted at I'I and has a normal bias toward the nozzle which bias is overcome by pin I8 on one armof a bell-crank lever I-9 that is pivoted'at 20 on a lever 2| which is in turn also pivoted at I1. As the lever I3 moves up and down around its righthand end the bell-crank I 9, attached to the cen-` ter thereof, is moved around its supporting point 2i)- to shift the position of pin I8 and flapper I5, The nozzle I6 communicates with a chamber 22 formed between a cup shaped casing 23 and a bellows 24, both of which are attached at their open endsto a supporting plate 25. tached to the plate 25 is a second and smaller bellows 26' which forms, with the bellows 24, a, second chamber 2'I that is in restricted communication with the atmosphere through a tube 28 that terminates in a variable restricting member v2li, to be described in detail below. The support 25 also has attached to it a member 3G that forms a support for the apper I5 and the lever 2i. A

connecting link or rod 3l is attached at one end to the inner end of bellows 26, and at its other end'to supporting lever 2 I Air is supplied to the chamber 22 and nozzle IB at a suitably reduced pressure from a supply vpipe 32 past a restriction 33 and through the Also atchanges in pressure in thech'amber 22 cause movement of the valve 31 between the supply and exhaust openings to-thereby proportionately vary the pressure within the casing 36. The interior A of the casing 36 is connected by a pipe 4I with the diaphragm chamber lof the control valve 3. Therefore as pressure in` chamber 36 varies the valve 3- will be opened or closed in accordance therewith.

On an increase in the pressure within the Bourdon tube 6 and a consequent movement of the part l in the clockwise direction, the valve l is moved-a corresponding distance away from the nozzle I6,' thereby reducing the pressure in 22. yThe pressure reduction in 22 elongates the bellows 24. The iirst ei'ect of its elongation is to enlarge the inter-bellows space 21 and to reduce the pressure in the latter owing to the relatively slow inilow of air permitted by the -restricted passage offered by part 29. The reduction in pressure in 21 elongates the bellows 26. The resultant movement of the bellows 26 moves the valve I5 back toward the nozzle I3, thereby tending to increase the pressure in chamber 22. In practice the mechanism is so proportioned if maintained, fuel would be supplied to the furnace .more slowly than required tol continuously meet the then existing demand on the vfurnace for heat. The extent of this decrease in pressure in j22 is -gauged by the movement given the valve Vl5 by the expansion of the bellows 26, oc' curring as a result of such decrease. Such initial excess in fuel reduction tends quickly to arrest the' rise of the furnace temperature, and to decrease the temperature. As the furnace temperature falls, the lever I0 turns counterclockwise and the tendency to an excessive decrease in that temperature is neutralized" more or less by an accompanying increase in pressure in the chamber 22, resulting from the movement given the valve I5 by the counter-clockwise motion of lever j l0, the magnitude of the increase being gauged and adjusted that the effect onthe pressure in i l22 of a change in position of the part I5 is only` partially neutralized by the effect of the pressure change on the length of the bellows 24. The decrease in pressure in chamber 21 produces an inflow of air through the passage 28 which tends to slowly bring the pressure in chamber 21 into equality with the pressure of the atmosphere. As the pressure in the chamber 21 builds up, the bellows 26 shortens and thereby` movesv the valve l5 away from the nozzle I6 andback towards the position into which it was moved on the original change in position of the part Ill provided the latter remains stationary in the meantime. reset or droop correction and the speed with which it takes place is determined by the length of tubing in the member 29 through which the air must bleed as it goes to and from chamber" 21. The converse of the actions just described occurs on a rise in the pressure in the Bourdon `tube '6 and a corresponding adjustment of the part I0 in the counter-clockwise direction.

From what has just been saidgit will be apparent that the rst effect of a change in the controlling condition and corresponding change in the part l0 is to produce a corresponding initial change in pressure in the chamber 22. This initial change in pressure in the chamber 22 is automatically followed by a smaller reverse change in pressure, as the initial change effectsA a reversal of direction of the change in the controlling condition and the control apparatus may be adjusted so that the corresponding initial adjustment of the control valve 3 is quick enough and great enough to produce a substantial corrective effect without giving rise to -such a hunting difllculty as would exist but for the automatic reverse change in pressure in the chamber 22.

It is to be assumed, for example, that an ini" tial clockwise change of the position of the part Ill occurs as a result of an increase in tempera'- ture due to a decrease in furnace load which continues for some time so' that less fuel is needed thanwas previously required, said change may well produce a temporarily excessive initial decrease in pressure in chamber 22, such that,

This latter movement is known as f by the compression of bellows 26 occurring as a result of such increase. The subsequent slow compression of the bellows 26, as the pressure in the chamber 21 approaches equality with that of the atmosphere, again tends to decrease the fuel supply to the furnace, but unless the furnace load has become still smaller in the meantime, the eii'ect on position of the valve I5 of such compression of the bellows neutralized by the decrease in the furnace temperature and resultant counter-clockwise change in position'of the part I0. If the demand on the furnacev for heat does not change after the bellows 26 has contracted to its normal or unflexed length, the valve l5 will come to rest with the part I0 in a position corresponding to a furnace temperature slightly higher than would exist in a stable operating condition with a larger demand on the furnace for heat.

As was sta'ted above, the member 29, with which the applicants invention is more particularly concerned, may take several forms, one of which isf shown in Fig. 2. In this embodiment, the tube 28 which is in communication at one end with the chamber 21, is connected at its opposite end to the member 29 that comprises a cylindrical junction member 42 that is in turn adapted to be connected to four pieces of capillary tubing, each of which is preferably of a diiferent length. These pieces of tubing are shown at 43, 44, 45 and 46 and they are provided with valves 41, 48, 49 and 50 between their ends and a passage 5I that is formed in a, ring member 52. When a valve member is open the interior of that capillary tube is connected with the atmosphere through the passage 5| and an exhaust pipe 53.

In operation, the rate which the reset action of the instrument in' Fig. 1 can take place, or the speed at which the bellows 26 will return to its normal length, depends upon the length of capillary tubing through which the air leading to this chamber has to travel. If, for example, all of the valves except 41 are closed then the rate of reset .will be comparatively fast since the capillary tube 43 has only two convolutions formed therein. On the other hand, if all of the valves except 50 are shut then the rate of reset will be slower since the air4 will have to leak through the longer capillary tube 46. It will be obvious that by varying the lengths of these tubes and opening and closing different combinations of the valves that a greatmany dierent rates of reset can be obtained.

Another form of the invention is shown at 29A in Fig. 3 in which embodiment the tube 23 communicates with a passage 54 that is formed in a rotatable member 55. This member is supported 26 will be partiallyv by a cylindrical part 56 that has attached to it four pieces of capillary tubing 51, 56, 59 and 60, each of which is preferably of a different length.

-The member 56 is formed with passages that communicate with the inner ends of the capillary tubing and are so positioned that they can be made to line up with the passage 54. In the use of this embodiment of the invention the part 55 is rotated so that passage 54 will communicate with one of the pieces of capillary tubing. Since each of the pieces of tubing is of a different length from the other piece, four dlilerent speeds of reset can be obtained with this embodiment by merely rotating the part 55.

A third embodiment of the invention is shown at 29B in Fig. 5. This embodiment is somewhat similar to that shown in Fig. 3 in that the tube 28 is connected with a rotatable part 62 and somewhat similar to that of Fig. 2 in that various combinations of capillary tubes may be connected to tube 28. The part 62 provided with three passages, one of which is shown in Fig. 6 at 6I and is angular in shape and communicates at one end with the tube 28. A second, 63, which is also angular in shape, communicates at one end'with the atmosphere and, the third 6l that is U shaped is adapted to communicate with the ends of two pieces of capillary tubing. Attached to the outer side of a cylindrical supporting member 65 are four pieces of capillary tubing 66, 61,

68 and 69 that are each of a dierent length and each may beconnected to the chamber 21 and the atmosphere by rotating the part 62.

In the operation of this embodiment if the part 62 is rotated to the position shown in Fig. 5, air escaping from the chamber 21 must pass through tube 28, passage 6 I, the four convolutions of the capillary tube in 69, passage 64, two convolutions of part 66 and passage 63. This is a total of six convolutions to the capillary tube. If part 62 is rotated in a clockwise direction so that pipe 28 is connected with one end of the piece`of tube 66 then the escaping air' must pass through the two convolutions of 66 and the one convolution of part 61 or a total of three convolutions. By further rotating the member 62, the chamber 21 can be connected with capillary tube parts 61 and 68 and with parts 68 and 69 so that the air will be forced to pass through four and seven convolu tions of the tubing respectively.

From the above detailed Adescription it will be seen that I have provided a simple and inexpensive apparatus for varying the rate of reset of an air control instrument. In the arrangement shown, the lengths of the capillary tubing and the number of convolutions formed therein are by way of example only, since it will be obvious that the tubing can be made to take any`shape and can be made of any length which is necessary for the operation of the instrument.

In order to change the control point of the instrument or the normal value of the temperature to be maintained in the' heater, it is only necessary to raise and lower the supportingmember I4 and thereby change the original position of the lever I3 for any given temperature. This may be easily accomplished by rotating a knob 10 that is connected to a bell crank member 1| which supports the upperend of the member Il. This bell crank is pivoted at I I and is connected 'with the knob 10 by means of a link 12. It will be obvious that if knob 1li is rotated, the right hand end of leverx I3 will be raised and lowered with respect to its left end and thereby the normal position of this lever will-be varied for a given temperature of the bulb l.

While in accordance with the provisions of the statutes, I have illustrated and described the best form of my invention now known to me, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the form of the apparatus disclosed without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the appended claims, and that in some cases certain features of my invention may sometimes be used to advantage without a corresponding use of other features.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an air control instrument having an expansible chamber, the combination of means to place the chamber in communication with the atmosphere including a junction member. tubular branches of various lengths connected therewith, a tubular ring member connected to each of said branches, a valve in eachbranch and a connection between the atmosphere and the in. terior of said ring.

2. In an air control instrument the combination of a restricted passage for the flow of air therein comprising a hollow cylinder, a plurality of pieces of tubing having varying flow resistance connecting at one end of each with the center of said cylinder, a valve in each piece of tubing, -a tubular member connected to the other ends of each of said pieces of tubing and a connection betweenthe interior of said tubular member and the atmosphere.

FREDERICK W. SIDE. 

